Dog days of summer derail weight team

Phyllis Williamson

By RICHARD ECKE, Tribune Staff Writer

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In these dog days of summer, the Tribune's Weight Loss Team stumbled.

One would think two weeks of temperatures near or above 100 degrees would stem appetites.

"I haven't been eating that much this week," member Joel Thompson acknowledged.

But, after five straight months of losing weight as a team, the squad overall gained one pound, missing out on a chance to break the 100-pound barrier. Losses so far total 94 pounds.

Team members are just six pounds away from reaching the century mark in combined weight loss in August.

Summer is a great time to be active, said team member Phyllis Williamson, who has been getting up early to take walks before 7 a.m.

"By 7 o'clock it's hot out there," she said. Williamson also has been mowing the lawn, walking the dog and doing other things outdoors.

Fruits such as cantaloupe and watermelon, and a myriad of vegetables, make eating healthily a lot easier this time of year, she added.

Williamson proved to be the shining light for the team in July, dropping five pounds to 187. Over the previous months, she had been the hard-luck team member, staying at roughly the same weight. The dietitian advising her, Marni Stevens, said Williamson has been working diligently in fashioning a healthy food plan.

Finally, this summer, all the retiree's hard work paid off. Her clothes are fitting more loosely, and her weight is also starting to dip.

"I'm really pleased," Williamson said.

The other woman on the team also lost weight in July.

Jennifer McLeod

Jennifer McLeod, a homemaker who lives on Malmstrom Air Force Base, lost another pound in a steady fall to her Weight Watchers weight goal of 145 pounds.

McLeod still wants to drop another 10 pounds to 135, as she deftly navigated a summertime mine field, a 38-day trip with her husband and kids to the East Coast, where family picnics abounded. McLeod avoided fried food and potato salad, and she bought vegetables to put in relatives' refrigerators.

The McLeods also took excursions to New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Hartford, Conn. She wasn't going to deprive herself of a good meal in the city.

"I said, 'I'm not torturing myself,' " McLeod recalled.

Plus, the McLeods were on the road a dozen days. Fast-food restaurants offer some tasty salads these days, for instance, "but they're not the easiest things to eat in the car," she said.

So McLeod gained a few pounds on the trip, but she lost those and more after getting back to Great Falls.

Although she has already reached one of her goals, McLeod doesn't think losing weight has gotten more difficult for her.

"Not yet," she said.

Summer and vacations helped foul up things for the male half of the team.

Houseguests and a trip to Las Vegas distracted Joel Thompson from his appointed task.

"There's just something about a Corona (beer) when it's 115 outside," Thompson said.

Thompson has lost the most weight of any team member so far using the Atkins diet, and his steady decline in pounds has prompted six other people in his office to get on the plan.

Thompson, a deputy county attorney, is a hero to some, but he just doesn't feel like a star after a tough month of socializing and the Vegas trek.

Thompson figures he could have stayed on the diet if he had wanted to.

"I didn't want to," he said. "I pretty much just took a break."

But he said he is back at it.

"I gained three pounds," he said. "That's not bad, actually."

House guests needed supplies, for instance.

"I had to bring a bunch of food for them," Thompson said.

On the Atkins diet, he makes sure to eat plenty of protein, and avoid lots of carbohydrates such as bread, pasta and sugars.

That means Chinese food is out of bounds, with all its rice, egg rolls and sweet sauces.

"I don't see any food in there that you can eat," he said.

But he had some Chinese food in July.

Member Tom Meeks said food is plentiful at warm-weather gatherings, making his low-fat diet more difficult to follow.

"These family reunion things don't help," he said. Meeks blamed "too much fudging" on what he ate in July for his rise of four pounds.

He keeps using his bicycle, though.

"Five in the morning, I get up and ride," Meeks said.

Both Meeks and McLeod have still lost 22 pounds each this year, and Thompson remains down 45 pounds. Williamson has lost 5 pounds in all.

Thompson follows the Atkins high-protein diet, while Meeks and Williamson are following balanced low-fat plans. McLeod uses a Weight Watchers plan.

The Weight Loss Team is trying to exercise and eating healthily throughout 2003. At the end of the year, team members who complete the effort will tally their successes and each receive a $100 gift certificate from the Tribune.

Originally published Wednesday, July 30, 2003